Radiant heat drying construction



April 27, 1943. w WILSON RADIANT HEAT DRYING CONSTRUCTION Filed April 24, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet l uvvmrom- 'Jka fihw M ATTYS April 27, 1943. w. WILSON RADIANT HEAT DRYING CONSTRUCTION 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 24, 1941 ill I m' MW n,

HIIWIHW l o 6 NW) lml il 'l INVEN TO Wa/ Patented Apr. 27, 1943 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE RADIANT HEAT DRYING CONSTRUCTION Wesley Wilson, Chicago, Ill.

Application April 24, 1941, Serial No. 390,033

Claims. '(Cl. 219-34) My invention relates to drying apparatus and more particularly to a drying tunnel in which the coated articles to be dried are subjected to the action of infra-red rays from a battery of lamps arranged to form a tunnel-like structure surrounding the articles. I

One of the objects of my invention is to provide a battery of lamps in which the rows of lamps may be readily adjusted to form many difierent cross sections of the tunnel,

A further object is to provide an improved form of gang adjustment for the lamps.

A further object is to provide an improved explosion-proof construction.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will appear from the description and claims.

In the drawings, in which several embodiments of my invention are shown,

Figure 1 is a front elevational view showing one side of the drying tunnel;

Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the structure of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an end elevation showing the reflector rows in a diiierent position from that shown in Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged plan view of the end portion of a bank of reflectors;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged sectional view on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4, showing the connection between adjacent banks;

Fig, 6 is a section substantially on the line 6-6 of Fig '4;

Fig. 7 is an enlarged transverse sectional view through the wiring channel showing the manner of removing the cover;

Fig. 8 is a plan view similar to Fig. 4 but showing a gang focusing construction;

Fig. 9 is an end view of the construction shown in Fig. 8;

Fig. 10 is a horizontal sectional view showing apparatus for preventing dust from entering the lamp enclosure;

Fig. 11 is a detail view showing how wiring channel sections may be connected; and

Fig. 12 is a diagrammatic view showing how the sections are used to form a tunnel through which the articles to be dried are passed.

Referring to the drawings in detail, the construction shown comprises a pair of standards I, a plurality of horizontally extending parallel wiring conduits 2, a plurality of lamp sockets 3 mounted in spaced relation on each conduit for supporting lamps 4 extending transversely with respect to the conduit, reflector means 5 for the lamps also mounted on each conduit, and means for pivotaliy connecting the conduits for relative swinging movement about an axis parallel to the conduits and adjacent contiguous edges of the reflectors of adjacent banks of reflectors, one of said conduits 2a being supported between said standards and the other rows of lamps with their conduits being supported from the conduit in mounted on the standards.

The means for pivotaliy connecting the con duits for relative swinging movement about an axis parallel to the conduits comprise a pair of brackets 6 secured, respectively, to ends of a wiring channel, a pair of quadrantal plates 1, one secured to each of these brackets, a pivot pin I extending through the bracket 6 of one row and the quadrantal plate l of another row, and a clamping screw 9, nut l0, and washer il (Figs. 4 and 5), located adjacent the arcuate edge of the quadrantal plate 1 and extending through the bracket i'for clamping the adjacent rows of lamps in any desired position of pivotal adjustment. The fixed row of lamps, which in general may be the central row, may be secured to the standard by means of clamping members I2 and I3 embracing the standard, one of the clamping members I2 being secured to the bracket 6 and the other clamping member being provided with a pair of clamping screws I4 and i5 for drawing the clamping members up to grip the standard i. One of these clamping bolts Il may be used to provide the pivot for the adjacent row of lamps. v

The reflectors may be secured to the wiring channel by means of strap brackets l6 riveted to the wiring conduit 2 and to the rims oi the reflectors 5.

Fig. 12 shows an end view of a tunnel, with the rows of reflectors disposed to provide a low, wide tunnel, through which a skeleton conveyor Ilia may pass, carrying the articles lib to be subjected to the surface drying rays.

Figs. 6 and '7 show one form of wiring conduit in which the, cover may be readily removed. This is accomplished by providing the edges of the wiring conduit with inwardly-extending grooves or beads ll into which the inwardly-extending edges 18 of the flanges lid of the cover snap. In order to remove the cover, the thin edge of the blade I 9 of a screw driver may be pressed against the junction point of the edge of the inwardly-extending edges i8 with the trough of the groove ll of the wiring channel, whereupon 'by giving a slight twist to the screw driver, the cover 20 will be lifted as shown in Fig, 7, one corner of the screw driver finding a purchase fits inside the wiring channel and which base 7.

can be held in any desired transverse adjustment with respect to the conduit 2 by means of clamping nuts 22. To enable this adjustment, the wire channel is provided with a pair of transverse slots 23, one at each end, through which the clamping screw 24 secured to the adjustable base 2| extends and on which screw the clamping thumb nut 22 is threaded for holding the base in any position to which it may be adjusted. If desired, a scale 25 and pointer 26 may be provided to enable the two ends to be evenly adjusted and to indicate the exact adjustment.

The construction shown in Fig. 10 enables air under superatmospheric pressure to be supplied to the lamp enclosure to prevent the entry of explosive gases or dust-laden air into the lamp enclosure.

pressed air to the enclosure will cause a constant minute flow of air from the inside of the enclosure to the outside through the small leak passages which may exist and will prevent the entrance of any explosive gases or dust-laden air into the enclosure. For this purpose, the re flector neck 21 has a gas-tight connection with the conduit 2, the wiring conduit itself being gastight except for an escape or safety valve 28 to prevent excess pressure in the conduit. A pressure regulating valve could be substituted for the safety valve 28. The air under a small superatmospheric pressure may be supplied to the conduit through a pipe 29.

A pressure-controlled circuit controller 30 may be provided to shut off the current if the pressure fails. The circuit controller shown comprises a bridging conductor 3| operated by a diaphragm 32 subjected to the pressure in the conduit 2 through the passage 33. When the pressure is on, the conductor 3| completes the circuit between the contacts 34, and when the pressure fails, the diaphragm,32 moves from the dottedline position to the full-line position to break the circuit.

If it is desired to make the tunnel longer, the wiring channels may be lengthened by a splice plate as shown in Fig. 11.

It is obvious that, if desired, sealed beam reflector lamp bulbs may be substituted for the reflectors and bulbs shown.

Further modifications will be apparent to those skilled'in the art and it is desired, therefore, that the invention be limited only by the scope of the appended claims Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A radiant heat drying construction comprising a plurality of parallel elongated wiring conduits, a plurality of sockets mounted in spaced relation on each conduit for supporting radiant heat sources spaced laterally with respect to said conduit, reflector means for said sources mounted The enclosure itself has extremely small gas leakage so that a small supply of comto move as a unit with each conduit for directing a beam-like flood of light from the reflector means on each unit, which beams converge, and

means for pivotally connecting said units for. relative swinging movement about an axis closely adjacent the adjacent edges of the reflector means on said plurality of units and parallel to said conduits and in front of the general plane of said conduits whereby the conduits separate as the convergence of the'beams increases.

2. A radiant heat drying construction comprising a plurality of parallel elongated wiring conduits, a plurality of sockets mounted in spaced relation on each conduit for supporting radiant heat sources spaced laterally with respect to said conduit, reflector means for said sources mounted to move as a unit with each conduit for directing a beam-like flood of light from the reflector means on each unit, which beams converge, means for pivotally connecting said units for relative swinging movement about an axis closely adjacent the adjacent edges of 1 the reflector means on said plurality of units and parallel to said conduits, and in front of the general plane of said conduits whereby the conduits separate as the convergence of the beams increases, and supporting .means to which one of saidunits is secured.

3. A radiant heat drying construction comprising a .plurality of parallel elongated wiring conduits, a plurality of sockets mounted in spaced relation on each conduit for supporting radiant heat sources spaced laterally with respect to said conduit, reflector means for said sources mounted to move as a unit with each conduit, and means for pivotally connecting said units for relative swinging movement about an axis parallel to said conduits, the means for pivotally connecting said units comprising a bracket secured to one of said units having an arcuate edge portion with its center in said axis, and securing means engaging said edge portion to hold the units in adjusted relative position.

4. A radiant heat drying construction comprising a plurality of parallel elongated wiring conduits, a plurality of sockets mounted in spaced relation on each conduit for supporting radiant heat sources spaced laterally with respect to said conduit, reflector means for said sources mounted to move as a unit with each conduit for directing a beam-like flood of light from the reflector means on each unit, which beams converge, and means for pivotally connecting said units for relative swinging movement about an axis parallel to said conduits and in front of the general plane of said conduits whereby the conduits separate as the convergence of the beams increases, the edges of said reflector means extending to points closely adjacent said axis. l

5. A radiant heat drying construction comprising an elongated wiring conduit member, an elongated base member adjacent and parallel to said conduit member, a plurality of sockets mounted on one of said members for supporting radiant heat sources spaced laterally with respect to said member, reflector means for said sources mounted on the other of said members, and means for securing said members in different positions of transverse adjustment with respect tov each other to change collectively the position of said sources with respect to said reflector means.

WESLEY WILSON. 

